Contents

Something even stranger is in the neighborhood when the restless spirits of some merciless Martians are stirred from their slumber to attack again! It's up to the REAL Ghostbusters to save New Jersey from this angry red threat. Well... if they must. [2]

On October 3, 2012, IDW published on their Facebook page, the promotional title artwork for the five Mars Attacks cross-over books they will be publishing in January 2013. The cross-over books are Popeye (January 2nd), the rock band KISS (January 9th), The Real Ghostbusters (January 16th), Transformers (January 23rd), and Zombies Vs. Robots (January 30th).[3][4]

On October 13th, 2012, IDW announced Erik Burnham was the one-shot's writer and Jose Holder, the main artist. Using The Real Ghostbusters came about from a lot of people asking for a story set in the world of the animated series and the NOW comic that was done a while back. The Ray Dillon regular cover was revealed as well. [5] Burnham later revealed the Rob Guillory "Mars Attacks CHEW" and the Mike Allred "Mars Attacks Madman" incentive covers would be attached to this release. [6] The script was completed around Labor Day last month and the issue is currently being penciled by Holder. [7][8]

On November 16th, 2012, Comic Book Resources posted an interview and 8 page preview. Burnham summarized the story as a Martians crash-landing decades ago when they intercepted the 1930s "War of the Worlds" broadcast and in the present, the ghosts of the Martian crew are roused up at a small farm in New Jersey. The Ghostbusters are called in to take care of the problem. [11]

This is IDW's first The Real Ghostbusters comic book containing original material. They previously published The Real Ghostbusters Omnibus, Vol. 1 in October 2012, which contained reprints of material originally published by NOW Comics in 1988 and 1989.

This is the first The Real Ghostbusters comic book containing original material to be published in the United States since the last NOW Comics book in July 1993 ("The Real Ghostbusters 3-D Slimer Special").